1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to corporate personnel information directories and/or databases. More specifically, the present invention relates to finding specific information about personnel related to a corporate entity in a fast, efficient, reliable and intuitive manner.
2. Background of the Invention
The ability to find contact information for individuals quickly and reliably is crucial to a healthy organization. Conventional methods for providing this information include web-based locators and address books. Users of these tools can enter information about the person they desire to contact, for example, their last and/or first names. Using this information, the tool returns contact information for the person, for example, their telephone number or email address.
Many organizations implement these tools in the form of software running on a corporate intranet. The software presents a roster of company employees. Choosing a particular name from that roster generally provides the user information regarding that person, including, for example, the person's email address and telephone number.
One problem with conventional corporate personnel information systems is that they only provide contact information. That is, they generally do not provide any indication of where a person fits into the corporate structure other than providing the person's title. While the title provides some information, it does not provide information that can be readily used to determine those persons to whom the person reports or those persons who report to the person.
Conventional contact information systems also lack the ability for one user to forward contact information from one user to another, particularly those using a different interface from the one which the first user uses to access the information. For example, it is possible for a first user to send to a second user, via email, a web page link to the web page containing a person's contact information. The second user must then, access the web page independently to get the information. This method is not intuitive for many users.
Another conventional method for transferring contact information is for the first user to cut and paste the information to send to the second user. The second user then has to access his or her email system to get the information. Again, this method is not intuitive for many users and requires the second user to have access to a computer, which is often not the case.
Another conventional method for transferring contact information is for the first user to call the second user to provide the contact information. This method requires that both the first and second users have access to a telephone, which is not always the case, especially where the second user is traveling. Moreover, it may require re-entering the contact information into a different device which can also be inconvenient.
Another problem with conventional contact information systems is that they generally do not allow users to access portions of the contact information database to update the information. This is because such access is typically limited to one or more system administrators. Consequently, to update information, a user is required to advise a system administrator of any changes. The system administrator is then responsible for updating the system.